Category Archives: TV-G[eek]

Only Murders in the Building S4 E4

Posted on by

Spoilers

“The Stunt Man”

The excellent fourth season of Only Murders in the Building moved along with the fourth episode, dealing with the murder of Sazz and the feeling of loss and grief that her death had brought up in a lot of people, specifically with her fellow stunt people.

Paul Rudd returned to the canvas as a stunt man for the late Ben Glenroy. He was hilarious as the Irish stunt man who had clearly been knocked on the head too many times.

Once again, the key to this season has been the wonderful performance from Steve Martin and his character’s deep friendship with Sazz, which is being explored every episode in a different manner.

It also seems that the Westies have been shone to be red herrings as Mabel discovered that they were not a cult, but instead were involved in a scheme to illegally sublet rent-controlled apartments. It also looks like Mabel may be getting into that action.

The mystery has turned back to the movie aspect as Molly Shannon is found by the trio at Sazz’s “Paradise,” (which is a location where Sazz wanted to build a stunt man training facility she would run when she retired) and she is holding a gun on them. Why is she here? Why does she have a gun?

I do believe this episode picked up the pace once again. I thought last week’s episode was a bit of a letdown, but this is right back to the excellence of the season.

The X-Files S6 E20

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Three of a Kind”

No Mulder in this episode as we get a Lone Gunmen-centric episode. The trio is at a government convention in Vegas as Byers continues his search for Susanne Modeski, in a story that is basically a sequel to the Unusual Suspects, an episode from the second season.

We get Scully involved as a supporting character here, and Gillian Anderson was fun, getting a chance to see her act in a different manner than we were used to seeing Scully.

It was also kind of fun to see a cameo from Michael McKeon as Morris Fletcher, who was in the episodes “Dreamland.”

This was the perfect definition of a filler episode. It was a fine episode, but nothing that really stood out. It was enjoyable, but certainly nothing that is necessary for The X-Files.

There are only two remaining episodes in season six before we move onto some major transitions in the X-Files universe.

The Greatest American Hero S2 E4

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Hog Wild”

Ralph and Bill are on the way back from a communication seminar and they come across a biker gang that was itching for trouble.

Now, Bill is anything but subtle and his borderline obnoxious personality ended up getting him three broken ribs and taken hostage by the gang.

Oh, and the gang wound up with the suit.

Of course, it only works on Ralph, but it still led to a whole bunch of trouble as the biker gang returned to a town that had run them off the day before and blackmailed Ralph into being their “muscle.”

Bill was really over the edge in this episode, displaying how he is too stubborn and hard headed in most situations. Ralph, although too involved with the communication from the seminar, does a great job doing what he could. I liked how Ralph and Bill used some other characters in the show to help the overall scenario. It was neat to see Ralph working with others without having to hide the suit.

I do think that Ralph could have taken this biker gang out much easier than he did, but I understand they needed to stretch the story to make it a full length episode. Overall, it was a fun show, but probably the weakest episode of the second season so far.

The X-Files S6 E18, E19

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Milagro”

“The Unnatural”

Two straight X-Files episodes that were more well received by the rest of the world than by me.

Both “Milagro” and “The Unnatural” are attempts to create an episode that is different and original, and, while that is certainly true, I just did not like either one much.

My original reaction to “The Unnatural”, out of my memory, was that I enjoyed it. This rewatch was different. I found it kind of dull. I do love baseball and this episode was kind of a love letter to baseball.

I do have to say that the use of the N-word in the cold open was shocking. I can’t imagine that being used on TV, specifically the broadcast network, today.

In “Milagro” the main antagonist was played by John Hawkes. He is decent in the role, but the story was just so bizarre and weird with the manner in which the episode dealt with Scully.

I just did not get into either of these episodes. Both had positives about them, but they did not work for me.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E16

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Sacrifice”

Intense episode. Dana Delany took a longue full of people hostage in an attempt to get Adama to give over the Cylon onboard the Galactica… aka Sharon.

I thought this was a solid episode but I was not sure some of the plans that were hatched by Lee, Kara and Adama made a whole lot of sense.

I still feel as if the relationship between Lee and Dee came out of nowhere and this did not feel as earned as it could have been. However, the killing of Billy was shocking and put a serious stake on the episode.

I was not a fan of Kara shooting Lee during “friendly fire.” Starbucks just has not been portrayed recently as the kick ass pilot that she had always been and this error really brought that home. Perhaps it will lead to some serious drama between the pair, but we’ll have to see.

The other thing that I disliked was when Dana Delany told Lee that she did not believe that he would kill the man he held at gunpoint and Lee eventually dropped his gun. Did I not just see Lee shoot an unarmed crimeboss in the previous episode? I believed he absolutely would blow this guy’s head off, but he surrendered his firearm immediately.

I do believe that Lee’s character has been written inconsistently during this season, and I hope they can get him back on track, since he should be one of the top characters on the show.

Bates Motel S4 E4

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Lights of Winter”

I’m having a tough time falling asleep, so I figured to give Norman Bates a chance to help with the shut eye. Should have guessed that it would not be the best choice.

Norman and his friend at the mental institution Julian sneaked out in the night and went to a strip club. If you knew of Norman’s proclivity to turn into his mother and murder women when he is placed in sexual situations, you could guess this was not the best idea. Thankfully, no one got murdered.

Of course, that was probably only because Julian got into a scrape with the bouncers at the strip club. Norman was in full blackout and in the personal of Mother at the time.

This led to Norman tearfully accepting whatever help Dr. Edwards was able to give him, as he realized that he was not sure what was real or not.

Meanwhile, the relationship between Norma and Alex picked up as they attended the “Lights of Winter” in town. Norma had gone to Portland to visit Emma and my first thought was… who’s running the motel? If Norma is gone and Norman is locked up and Emma is in the hospital, who is left?

Anyway, there is a woman from the bank named Rebecca, who had been having some kind of relationship with Romero prior to his marrying Norma. Rebecca had ties to Bob Paris and believed that Romero had killed him. She told Romero that Bib had a safety deposit box full of laundered money that was there for the taking, if Bob’s killer would just have the key. Romero is too smart to incriminate himself, but after the Lights of Winter, Romero and Norma discovered the house had been ransacked (perhaps someone looking for the key).

Well, that’s enough for now. I’m going to try to shut my eyes again. Here’s hoping.

Bonus Action Vol. 2 E2

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Battle at the Parade of Celebrants”

The second episode of the second volume of Bonus Action was the combat that was set up last week. The parade that Bric was so looking forward to was attacked and danger was placed upon the heroes.

This was so awesome.

Bar’b was unbelievable.

Everyone had a remarkably awesome moment. Marlon was excellent. Rory pulled a remarkable retribution moment with a Nat 20. Bric and his boulders…

So much fun.

Only Murders in the Building S4 E3

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Two for the Road”

So, why is Zach Galifianakis such a dick?

The three actors who are intended to play Oliver, Charles and Mabel came to shadow our plucky podcasters and became involved in the investigation into the Westies.

Zach Galifianakis, Eugene Levy and Eva Longoria clearly were playing caricatures of themselves in this episode, but I have to say, they were easily my least favorite part of this entire season so far.

I have loved this season, but the three actors felt like something crammed into the story that just did not work. I will admit Eugene Levy’s partnering up with Charles to look into the patch-wearing Richard Hatch was the best of the three. Eva Longoria was way over-the-top and annoying. Galifianakis was downright disrespectful to Oliver and I found him to be the worst of the three.

The episode is much stronger with the time that Oliver, Charles and Mabel are together. The beginning with the murder board and Detective Williams and the ending scene when the three were having a housewarming for Mabel’s squatting in the apartment that the sniper had shot from were both considerably more entertaining than them with the actors.

One has to wonder though… why Perfect Strangers?

There were a bunch of clues dropped this episode and several red herrings that played out, including Kumail Nanjiani, who we meet as Christmas all the time dude.

This was my least favorite of the episodes so far in season four, but it was just because those first two were so excellent for me. I am fully engaged in the mystery of who shot Sazz and how it related to Charles.

Only Murders in the Building airs on Hulu.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E15

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Scar”

A Battlestar Galactica Starbuck-centric episode is always great. Starbuck is simply been put through the wringer for this entire series and she has been slipping into the bottle more. Her guilt over Anders and being unable to get a rescue mission back to Caprica, as well as her guilt over the deaths of other pilots have pushed her into being very brittle.

Scar is that Cylon Raider ship that has been targeting and killing pilots in a manner unlike other Cylons. Scar is known as the “Ace of aces” and a master of sneak attacks.

The show featured the conflict between Starbuck and Kat, as the two women showed their anger with one another over just about everything.

Katee Sackhoff was exceptional in the episode, being able to play up the myriad of flaws displayed by Starbuck and still be a dominant force on Galactica.

The show told the story out of order, as it flashed from the confrontation of Starbuck and Kat with Scar, back to the time before they headed out.

There are some great action scenes in the episode too.

The X-Files S6 E17

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Trevor”

This was yet another X-Files episode that I swear I have never seen before today. I am surprised how many of those types of episodes happened during the first six seasons, which was a time where I was an extremely big X-Files fan.

“Trevor” is a monster-of-the-week story dealing with an escaped convict who, because of a tornado, developed the power to walk through objects. Wilson “Pinker” Rawls is the convict who was in pursuit of what seemed to be missing money he had during a robbery prior to his incarceration, but the story turned out to be something much more personal.

It is revealed about halfway through the episode that Pinker was, in truth, looking for an old girlfriend named June who kept a secret from him. The secret was that she had given birth to his son, a boy named Trevor.

I saw a quote from the director of this episode, Rob Bowman, who indicated that, yes Pinker was a terrible killer, but the main antagonist of this episode was June, because she had hidden the fact from him that she had given birth and that he just wanted to be with his son. I do not think there is a bigger bunch of hooey than that. It felt as if the show tried to make Pinker the victim at the end and, when June hit him with a car, killing him, that she had done the wrong thing. Even Mulder made a comment that maybe Picker just wanted another chance.

What a load of crock. Seriously, this guy had been leaving a path of dead bodies in his wake as he was searching for June and Trevor. He would have killed Scully if she hadn’t gotten away, inside a phone booth. Mulder had discovered that, although he could walk through objects, he could not pass through things that was an insulator to electricity, glass, rubber etc.

This switch at the end trying to place Pinker in a positive light dragged the episode down several pegs for me. I did enjoy what was here prior to that, but the show just did not build any sympathy from me for this murderer.

The Greatest American Hero S2 E3

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Don’t Mess Around with Jim”

Did Tony flunk?

I ask because at the beginning of this episode of The Greatest American Hero, Ralph was getting after Tony to meet him at his house an hour after school let out in order for them to work together so Tony would not flunk. Tony wasn’t excited about the extra work, but he eventually agreed to Ralph’s pressure (Sure felt like blackmail to me). However, Ralph was kidnapped in the school parking lot after school and taken away.

And there was not one mention of Tony after that.

I really expected that there would be some kind of tag at the end with this dangling plot point, but there was not. So I can only assume that Tony was going to flunk.

The episode was pretty good in-between the fate of Tony. The man who had Ralph (and Bill) kidnapped was a man who had just faked his own death. A man who was big enough of a figure in the world whose funeral would be aired on live TV. This man had his will taken and needed Ralph and Bill to help him reclaim it.

The truth was mixed though. The man knew about the suit from the “little green guys” and his friend was able to tell Ralph how to use the suit’s telekinesis.

Turned out, the man who had faked his own death, at one time, had a suit of his own from the aliens. He apparently abused the power and the aliens took it away from him.

The idea that Ralph was not the first to be approached by the aliens is a fascinating idea and helped to build the world even more.

This episode was really solid and shows that this show had spent time doing more than just breaking cases. This episode was a development for both Ralph and Bill. This was the third really good episode in season two.

Bates Motel S4 E3

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Til Death Do You Part”

Every episode that sees Norma and Romero getting closer reminds me of how much I loved them as a couple and how I wanted to root for them, despite the fact that I knew this was doomed from the start.

Their relationship feels as if it has been built since day one. While it may seem as if it were tossed together in one moment, the truth is that they have had interactions with each other since the first season and this all makes sense.

Norman is totally frightening as he is dealing with his anger at Norma for putting him in the psychiatric home. His ability to manipulate is being shown, and it is still up in the air if anyone around there believes him. Dr. Edwards seems to be very low-key and calm when dealing with Norman, but even he gave a look at the end when Norman was accusing his mother of murder that made me wonder where he was going to fall on it.

It was good to have Dylan return to lend an ear for Norma and to face off with Chick. His time with Emma has been great, but he belongs in the Bates craziness too.

Tension is building this season and I can’t wait to see what is going to happen once again.

Bonus Action Vol. 2 Ep.1

Posted on by

Spoilers

“A Spring’s Awakening”

Bonus Action returned to officially kickoff their second volume of D & D role-playing action with the wonderful cast of characters and a remarkably creative DM.

One of last year’s top surprises was the arrival of Bonus Action from the Preview’d guys, Adam lash and Jay Schmidt. They had decided to film their group’s gaming as a YouTube series and I found it to be very fun.

The cast returned this season with DM (Or as he says, friendly neighborhood campaign manager) David Armstrong as well as Jay and Adam (playing Bric and Victor respectively), Amanda Nicholas as Barb’E, Ja-Ron Young as Marlon, Josh Hurley as Todd, and Jason Spina as Rory. This only works because of these talented individuals with their acting, improv and interpersonal skills. They all have a total grasp on their characters and it makes it a total rush watching them play into the amazingly constructed and described world of Wild Country.

This episode kicked off with an unexpected one-on-one with David and Amanda, in a flashback for Barb’E, and it was tremendous, emotional and thrilling.

The rest of the episode was set up and character development, both important and silly in many manners. Making Todd’s 4th Wall Breaking a part of canon is truly a hoot.

I will say that the cliffhanger at the very end was fairly shaky. How could you?

This was a ton of fun and next week’s combat at the parade (or is it Pear-Raid?) will be something special. Glad this is back.

Only Murders in the Building S4 E2

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Gates of Heaven”

Two episodes in and I am completely enthralled with this new season of Only Murders in the Building.

Steve Martin may be doing some of his best work of his long and illustrious career as Charles went through the episode trying to wrap his mind around the fact that he might have been the target of the murder attempt that claimed the life of his friend and stunt double, Sazz. Martin’s performance was beautiful as he spoke to the delusion he was seeing of Sazz. This was both sad as could be and relatable in a situation that just was crazy.

While Charles was breaking our hearts in his apartment (and kind of reuniting with escaped killer Jan), Oliver and Mabel went to investigate the Westies, people who could be the shooter in apartments across from Charles’ place, in the west end of the Arconia. These were some weirdos, led by Richard Kind’s “Stink Eye Joe” aka Vince Fish and his moving pink-eye. We also met a family who invite Oliver and Mabel to join them in a card game called Oh Hell. Some of the things that happen with the Westies are truly crazy and are either meant to throw us off or to highlight how crazy things are in this part of the Arconia. We certainly see that they know something more than they let us know.

We do not meet the Westie that Charles dubbed Christmas Guy, played by Kumail Nanjiani. Apparently, his apartment is decorated for Christmas year round. Oh, and by the way, when Oliver and Mabel were in the apartment where they believe that the shooter took the shot, Oliver found some tinsel. That clue may be too on the nose to be anything but a red herring, but you never can tell with this show.

I thought this was tremendous, with Steve Martin and Jane Lynch were amazing. I found the documentary that was the only time Sazz’s own face was on the screen packed a powerful wallop. Steve Martin’s moments at the beginning of the episode when he had Sazz’s ashes all over his hands and he did not know how to wash them off respectfully was both funny and crushing at the same time. His plan of washing off the ashes and catching the water in a bucket, putting the water in a Mason jar and allowing the water to evaporate to leave the ashes was never going to work, but it displayed the tremendous shock that Charles was suffering from.

I love the start of this season and I am thoroughly enjoying each episode so far. Only Murders in the Building airs on Hulu.

Battlestar Galactica S2 E14

Posted on by

Spoilers

“Black Market”

The black market of goods aboard the fleet is given some light in this episode that focuses on Lee and his recent struggles since the ejection of the blackbird.

Truth be told, the whole Apollo arch feels sloppy. Much of what was going on, things that seemed to be a huge problem for Lee felt like it just showed up now and did not seem to fit in to what I knew of the character. There were a bunch of things in this episode like that. One in particular is Lee who had been taking up with a prostitute on Cloud Nine, a prostitute who had a child. I was not sure where this was supposed to have come from and it was jarring when she was there.

It was the same thing about the flashbacks to Lee’s former girlfriend prior to the Cylon attack. I knew little to nothing about this woman and, because of that, I had little to no emotional connection to her.

I also was not sure about the relationship between Apollo and Dee. This did not seem like much of a relationship before. It always felt as if Apollo was more with Starbuck, and Dee was with Billy. Maybe I missed something important, but it just felt lacking.

The stare down with Apollo and black market head Phelan was intense and ended surprisingly. I kind of liked that, even if it felt like it went against Apollo’s character. At least that felt like a choice he made to make things better.

Overall, this was not a strong episode and felt as if it lacked the narrative that this show is used to presenting.